Inc magazine february 2016

THE BEST INDUSTRIES FOR STARTING A BUSINESS IN 2016 PAGE 24 The Magazine for Growing Companies The Rıse and Rısk THE CULT OF YETI PAGE 46 of Under Armour Kevin Plank’s BillionDollar Bet on Tech PAGE 28 HOW TO FIND THE BEST FREELANCE TALENT PAGE 56 MAKE HACKERS WORK FOR YOU PAGE 72 “As a founder, I can play a little more freely than other CEOs.” —Kevin Plank LAWYER UP PAGE 40 Drinks With Gawker’s NICK DENTON PAGE 43 Saving People that’s before there were photocopiers Some discounts, coverages, payment plans and features are not available in all states or all GEICO companies GEICO is a registered service mark of Government Employees Insurance Company, Washington, D.C 20076; a Berkshire Hathaway Inc subsidiary © 2015 GEICO “People in Texas will brag that their cooler is grizzly-proof, even though there’s not a grizzly within 1,000 miles.” Contents —ROY SEIDERS (in front), chairman of Yeti, which makes high-end coolers and outdoor gear, with his brother, and co-founder, Ryan PG 46 PHOTOGRAPH BY MICHAEL FRIBERG FEBRUARY 2016 - INC - Features 46 28 76 • • • LEAD LAUNCH Under Armour’s Big Bet The Yeti Brotherhood When two frustrated fishermen set out Hard-charging to reinvent the cooler, founder Kevin Plank they didn’t expect to has spent nearly upend an industry $1 billion to create a new line of business By Bill Saporito — Now for the hard part: making it work By Tom Foster — INNOVATE Intercepted An entrepreneur was close to selling his cool new technology to the NFL, but then the thing he feared most happened By David Whitford — 62 • MONEY NerdWallet’s Answer Man The credit card site aims to answer all consumer finance questions Because CEO Tim Chen learned the hard way how it feels when you don’t have all the answers By Maria Aspan — ON THE COVER KEVIN PLANK, FOUNDER AND CEO OF UNDER ARMOUR, PHOTOGRAPHED IN NEW YORK CITY BY DYLAN COULTER PRINTED IN THE USA COPYRIGHT ©2016 BY MANSUETO VENTURES LLC All rights reserved INC (ISSN 0162-8968) is published monthly, except for combined July/August and December/January issues, by Mansueto Ventures LLC, World Trade Center, New York, NY 10007-2195 Subscription rate for U.S and Possessions, $19 per year Address all subscription correspondence to Inc magazine, P.O Box 3136, Harlan, IA 51593-0202; 800-234-0999; icmcustserv@cdsfulfillment.com (U.S., Canada, International) Please allow at least six weeks for change of address Include your old address as well as new, and enclose if possible an address label from a recent issue Single-copy requests: 800-234-0999 Periodical postage paid at New York, NY, and additional mailing offices Canadian GST registration number is R123245250 POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Inc magazine, P.O Box 3136, Harlan, IA 51593-0202 Material in this publication must not be stored or reproduced in any form without permission Requests for permission should be directed to permissions@inc.com Reprint requests should be directed to The YGS Group at 800-290-5460, ext 128 Inc is a registered trademark of Mansueto Ventures LLC FEBRUARY 2016 VOL 38 NO - INC - FEBRUARY 2016 CONTENTS THIS PAGE: DAMIEN MALONEY COVER: GROOMING: JAMES MOONEY; STYLING: NINA FENTON; PROP STYLING: GRAHAM LOTT PIECE WORK At NerdWallet’s San Francisco headquarters, employees can play on the “nerd wall.” WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE BUILT FOR BUSINESS? Internet TV WiFi Voice Ethernet Our portfolio of business-grade products is built to move your company forward comcastbusiness.com | 800-501-6000 26 12 Editor’s Letter The visionary thing, revised 14 The Inc Life 1933 Group co-founder Bobby Green rides into his future in cars from the past 96 Founders Forum Daniel Lubetzky, founder and CEO of Kind Snacks — 19 • LAUNCH 56 74 Departments — 20 Tip Sheet It’s cheap and easy to use, and it could help your employees use their brains more effectively Plus: The Jargonator 22 Inc 5000 Insights Former NFL tight end Tony McGee employs the skills he learned in football to grow his logistics company 24 Predicting the Future Growth is expected to be torrid in these four sectors—and barriers to entry are lower than you might think 26 Ask Marcus Lemonis A founder wonders why she can’t find good help Marcus says she may be the problem 36 Thomas Goetz Think big to get attention, but keep your focus on the details if you want to grow — 39 • LEAD — 40 Tip Sheet When to lawyer up And how to avoid costly court battles 43 Drinks With Nick Denton keeps calm when the weather gets stormy 52 Norm Brodsky Knowing the difference between a problem and an opportunity — 55 • 71 • INNOVATE 14 - INC - FEBRUARY 2016 — 72 Tip Sheet Want to strengthen your digital security? Pay someone to break in 74 Positive Energy Butter Beans serves a niche that couldn’t access school lunches before 86 Disrupter LivePerson’s web chat lets companies reach out online to their customers 88 Jason Fried Sometimes the most important thing about a product revamp is what you take out — CONTENTS CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT: DREW ANTHONY SMITH; SCOTT BAKAL; GETTY; PETER BOHLER MONEY — 56 Tip Sheet Use these online platforms to find the right freelancers 58 Benchmarking How one startup spends every dollar—and what you can learn from it 60 Moneywise What to to make sure your portfolio weathers rising interest rates 68 Helaine Olen Feeling the burn? Spending money to make money doesn’t always work — DeAngelis says now Evansen adds: “As the NFL told me a couple of times, ‘We kick off at 1:00, with or without you.’ ” How’d that meeting go? All these months later, Evansen sighs, pauses, and looks at DeAngelis “It was kind of like an NFL and Zebra lovefest,” he says finally “If you’ve ever been to a party where it’s clear that these people want to go off and hang out together, and you’re kind of in the way—I don’t know I can’t put a word on it, but it was a sense, right? We were no longer … ,” and his voice trails off Then came a series of confusing but ominous maneuvers by Zebra A month after the NFL meeting, Evansen’s phone rang back at the Haverhill office It was Stelfox, calling from Zebra to convey Zebra’s interest in acquiring IsoLynx Unexpected, but hardly shocking Lynx had been fending off suitors for years “You don’t want to sell your business until you’ve proven the value in what you’re doing,” says DeAngelis Any founder in his position might have felt the same, especially with the payoff in sight Lynx went through the motions of countering Zebra’s offer (neither party would disclose numbers), but the deal was never going to happen “We gave them a sense of how far off they were,” says DeAngelis, shrugging Dennis Ceru, founder of the CEOs Group executive leadership program and an adjunct professor at Babson College, won’t accuse Lynx of making a fatal mistake, but, he says, “it’s not at all uncommon for entrepreneurs to have a conception of value that’s not correlated to the market value.” They also ignore the nuisance factor, which comes into play when a potential buyer is big enough to enter the market without you “If buying you is more of a nuisance,” Ceru warns, “the value calculation changes,” to your disadvantage Zebra’s response to Lynx’s rebuttal was indeed swift: a hostile email from Stelfox on March 8, saying that Zebra’s review of IsoLynx’s collaboration agreement with Sportvision, Lynx’s graphics partner, “can be read to evidence” that Lynx had disclosed confidential Zebra technology to Sportvision In other words: You spilled our secrets Which constitutes a breach of our existing agreement, the letter continued Which means we are no longer bound by its terms So long, Lynx Or maybe not Three days later, according to the Lynx complaint, Stelfox called Evansen again to say, essentially, we’re still friends—that her March email was part of a plan to force a termination of the IsoLynx-Sportvision collaboration agreement, clearing the way for Zebra and Lynx to work with the NFL on their own (Sportvision declined to comment.) Evansen summarizes: “Out of nowhere, a friendly call from Miss Wonderful,” offering to buy Lynx, “and then, all of a sudden, a termination And then another call that says, ‘Oh, don’t worry, it’s not what you think it means.’ ” Evansen says he told Stelfox that Lynx wanted no part of “Zebra’s proposed subterfuge,” and ended the call Frantic efforts by Lynx over the next few weeks to repair the relationship with Zebra failed On April 18, Stelfox sent a final 84 - INC - FEBRUARY 2016 Old Dominion’s focus on premium service means every item arrives with one of the lowest claims ratios and one of the best on-time records in the industry Old Dominion Freight Line, the Old Dominion logo, OD Household Services and Helping The World Keep Promises are service marks or registered service marks of Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc All other trademarks and service marks identified herein are the intellectual property of their respective owners © 2016 Old Dominion Freight Line, Inc., Thomasville, N.C All rights reserved letter to Evansen, formally terminating the Zebra-Lynx relationship Without access to Zebra’s components, IsoLynx could not deploy And the golden ring slipped from Lynx’s grasp L AWSUITS IN TECHNOLOGY are an unfortunate part of doing business,” Zebra spokeswoman Therese Van Ryne wrote in an email to Inc “[I]t is Zebra’s strong belief that Lynx’s claims are without merit.” This particular lawsuit may not be resolved for years Zebra has filed a motion to dismiss Lynx’s suit (Lynx has moved to quash) and filed a lawsuit in California seeking a judgment that it did none of the wrongful acts alleged by Lynx (Lynx says it will move to dismiss that suit.) If this story seems to favor Lynx’s side, that doesn’t mean Lynx will prevail in court While Zebra has yet to respond substantively to Lynx’s complaint, Van Ryne did provide a sketch of Zebra’s defense She wrote that after the January 2013 meeting with the NFL, Zebra was surprised to learn of the extent of Lynx’s agreement with Sportvision; that in light of that agreement, Zebra’s partnership with Lynx was “not feasible”; and that after Zebra and Lynx had parted ways, Zebra “independently developed” its own player-tracking technology, MotionWorks, which later prevailed in an open competition run by the NFL Lynx strenuously refutes the claim that Zebra developed MotionWorks on its own “It will be fun seeing them put that into longhand in front of a court of law,” says Evansen Meanwhile, Lynx will continue perfecting IsoLynx, this time using its own, internally developed electronic tags The company still believes there’s a big market for tracking technology Unfortunately for Lynx, Zebra understands that now too; and what is more, exactly as Lynx had hoped to do, Zebra is using the NFL—“a great customer of ours,” Zebra CEO Anders Gustafsson told an interviewer for TheStreet TV in November—to exploit the potential On November 19, IBM formed a consortium to deliver data to teams and multimedia thrills to fans in stadiums around the world Among the founding members: Zebra Technologies HALFTIME IN ANDOVER The demo’s done, the game’s a rout, and the space heater is falling further behind Time to go home This whole saga, DeAngelis observes, reminds him of the internet bubble “People were getting absurdly wealthy without actually adding real value,” he says “From my perspective, in an efficient capitalist system, you get back the value you add in.” Value is money DeAngelis wants the payoff But just as much, he wants credit—for the spark he and Evansen kindled, the flame it became, and the blaze now burning brightly, far from the drafty press box at Andover High “It would be nice,” DeAngelis says finally, “if the market understood.” DAVID WHITFORD is an Inc editor-at-large INNOVATE OD Domestic offers: • More than 220 service centers nationwide • Competitive transit times and pricing • Proactive shipping solutions For more information, visit odfl.com or call 1-800-235-5569 DISRUPTER Killing the 800 Number LivePerson’s web chat lets companies reach out to their customers online As told to LIZ WELCH W surfing the internet back in 1993, he thought, “This is awesome— but where are the people?” They were chatting in forums with one another, but there was no connection between consumers and companies that were selling things or services online; 800 numbers owned that role LoCascio thought that offering companies a chat platform would let them better manage the relationship Now, New York City-based LivePerson has revenue of $250 million and 1,000 employees in eight countries, giving heft to LoCascio’s theory that no one wants to be put on hold HEN ROBERT LoCASCIO STARTED Everyone thought the internet digitized the relationship between brand and consumer But when they communicate, it still goes offline to voice, and that’s not the way the world is today We’re riding the internet’s third wave The first was organizing the world’s information through search—i.e., Google The second was connecting people with people, so Facebook The third is how we connect with businesses My first idea, in 1995, was for companies to bring their customers together in a community Chatrooms existed online, but the business application did not Xerox was my first customer, and within a couple of months they said, “We don’t want our customers talking to one another, because it’s a bitch session.” But Xerox liked the chat capability, and being able to connect with customers and support online LivePerson launched in 1997 focused entirely on that Our company went public in April 2000, and then the dot-com bubble burst We had negative gross margins and $20 million in infrastructure An Israeli firm was making better software 86 - INC - FEBRUARY 2016 with cheaper implementation, so we bought it in late 2000, restructured, and moved all our customers onto that platform and our tech operations to Israel That saved the company When you’re on a website, picking up the phone to make a call is a very disconnected experience Back in the late ’90s, you had to log off because of dial-up internet Even today, 90 percent of interactions come through voice A credit card or any bill has an 800 number to call That equates to 270 billion phone calls every year It MOVING ON LivePerson dwarfs the number founder and CEO of web interactions Robert LoCascio says he will miss That is changing making 1-800 calls We started in as much as he misses his pager post-sales support, and his goatee making sure the customer is satisfied The room for real innovation is on the sales side We put an open-chat button next to the shopping cart and found that some people still clicked on it with a customer support issue So then we thought, “How can you know by their behavior on a website when people want to buy?” That’s where we want the chat button to appear In 2002, we launched proactive chat, which pops open a window Setting the Hook We have invested a lot in a series of algorithms that look at each customer and his or her connection with each business If someone has been idle on a webpage for two minutes, that doesn’t necessarily mean the person wants to be engaged by an agent There are so many more behavioral signs that need to be factored in, such as, “What’s in her cart? Has she been here before?” She may SPREAD FROM LEFT: COURTESY COMPANY; MONALYN GRACIA/CORBIS The Web’s Next Wave CUTTING CORDS Americans make more than a quarter trillion 1-800 calls a year and don’t have a very good time of it Letting go of the phone is not a hard call 85 PERCENT OF CALLERS ARE PUT ON HOLD 48 PERCENT FEEL UNHELPED 67 PERCENT HANG UP 49 PERCENT WOULD RATHER TEXT THAN CALL A PERSON SOURCES: FORRESTER; FROST & SULLIVAN; PERFORMICS; TALKTO; HAILO; LIVEPERSON 20 different things before she buys, so we look at all of those layers and process the data in real time to determine who best to engage, and at what moment someone might want help When users trigger certain things, they get invited to chat Twenty-five percent of the time we are able to turn that behavior into a sale That took our business from $20 million to $100 million within five years Seventy percent of our revenue today is in this program We get paid on a per-interaction basis If we send an invitation and a consumer accepts and starts a conversation, that’s an interaction If it’s sales, we get more, and service, we get less that says, “Say happy birthday.” Our algorithms for both web and mobile can also tell us that the behavior of a certain customer shows he needs even more touch, or less touch, or a certain type of touch With voice, a customer calls in, the company representative handles it, and the customer leaves With LivePerson, those interactions are all recorded and organized So a business can see, “OK, I haven’t interacted with this person in three months I’ll just say hello or make sure his service is working smoothly or suggest that he consider a new product based on past purchases.” Let’s say you have telecom service, and your bill is running up because you’re traveling overseas The company can reach out and message, “What’s going on?” Consumers can be connected with the business at all times without ever having to be put on hold Instead of calling my bank, I can send a message that says, “Hey, I’m having a problem with my credit card Can you check it out and get back to me?” That changes the interaction from a transaction to a connected experience Business in Your Pocket Going Mobile In 2015, we added mobile messaging capabilities Consumers have moved on They’re not using voice to communicate with friends and family—they’re texting or messaging I don’t think web chat will be around four or five years from now Why would you go on a website and chat? Wouldn’t you just message on a phone? Why can’t we that with business? In another five years, we can take calls out entirely and message instead Through mobile messaging, we can pinpoint algorithms toward ongoing relationships, including one When we first went live, we saw that when agents didn’t manage their chats well, we’d get cancellations How you measure the relationship between the brand, the agent, and the consumer at all times? So we developed a “meaningful connection score.” We patented it from our web chat tools, then built it into the mobile messaging platform and now train customers how best to use it Every month, an average of 30 million people chat with our 18,000 customers During the holiday season, that number can go to 60 million About percent of that is going through messaging, but messaging is growing at 100 percent a quarter Business can be in the consumer’s pocket, and that’s a radical shift INNOVATE GET REAL Jason Fried •••• Fight the Fear Sometimes the most important thing about a product revamp is what you take out of feedback, and everyone a little leery of the other side’s opinions When time, money, and results are on the line, it’s easy for tension to build And that was the breakthrough That’s the big insight from all of our customer research People who use Basecamp with clients want it to help eliminate the fear that characterizes the client-firm relationship It wasn’t about addN PREPARATION FOR building Basecamp 3, we did a lot of ing this or that feature It was about removing customer research Some of it took the shape of formal something Eureka! interviews, some of it involved casual conversations We dug in deeper We asked a lot of questions Some information we gleaned from customer service We listened a lot And the picture came into focus interactions, and some came from surveys Traditionally, tools like Basecamp combine Through it all, one thing became very clear: We an internal repository for work in progress with a could make major improvements for a certain kind of mechanism to share work with clients and get customer if we concentrated on elimination rather their feedback Makes sense—you want to keep it than addition all in the same place, since it’s all related to the A large portion of our customer base consists of same work The problem was that people weren’t client services firms These include advertising, marketing, and design sure what clients could see Could they see work agencies; consultancies; dev shops; accountants, lawyers, and profesthat wasn’t ready to show? Could they see intersional services firms People who work closely with their clients nal debates about feedback they provided? Might This is, after all, why we built Basecamp We started out as a they see a negative comment someone on the web-design firm, and needed a more organized, more professional inside made about them? way to share work with clients, get their feedback and approvals As a remedy, previous versions of Basecamp on the record, and make progress as partners, not as adversaries gave people a box they could check to hide We created Basecamp for ourselves something from the client Problem was, the box But, it turns out, the client-firm relationship is often a delicate one was too easy to miss You forget to check that There’s a lot of tiptoeing around, with people at the firm afraid to say box, the client sees something you’d rather keep certain things in front of the client, the client afraid to give certain kinds to yourself, and all hell can break loose Thousands of dollars could be at stake So, armed with this insight, we completely redesigned the way clients and firms work Jason Fried is co-founder together in Basecamp We came up with something we call the Clientside of Basecamp (formerly Imagine a theater In the front of the house, the audience enjoys a polished performance 37signals), a Chicago-based software company Backstage, the actors and crew are frantically getting ready for the next scene The audience never sees that chaos In Basecamp 3, we mimic that structure The stuff your team can see and the stuff clients can see are in two separate places in the app It’s impossible for clients to access anything they aren’t supposed to They get to watch the show, but not what goes into creating the show Now teams don’t need to watch their every step They can be loose and casual when talking among themselves about clients and work in progress And when it’s time to make a formal presentation, they can switch over to the Clientside, where they know they’re talking to a client The distinction is clear The fear and anxiety are gone And they’ll never again have to worry about the client seeing backstage 88 - INC - FEBRUARY 2016 INNOVATE JEFF SCIORTINO I SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION FRANCHISE TO ADVERTISE CONTACT 800.938.4660 • WWW.DIRECTACTIONMEDIA.COM FRANCHISE SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION UNIQUE CONCEPTS BREAK NEW FRANCHISING GROUND by Mark Henricks Investing in a franchise is best approached systematically Before signing up to join a system, would-be entrepreneurs are advised to evaluate complex and slippery factors ranging from their own financial capacity and career objectives to the franchiser’s training opportunities and brand strength But one important element of a franchise concept is relatively easy to determine That is, is it new? Pioneering concepts face fewer competitors and often enjoy fast-growing markets, so quality of innovation is a key concern when evaluating franchise investment Bricks Kidz of St Augustine, Florida, has the best of both worlds, with a business that is at once unique and innovative and which also draws on the time-tested strength of a global brand icon Franchisees of the concept, one of several from parent company Creative Learning Corporation, provide parents and children with opportunities to learn valuable concepts by building and playing with LEGO Bricks The company engages kids in learning fundamentals of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) with the help of proprietary model plans created by engineers and architects Kids ages and up learn through activities presented as after-school enrichment classes, week-long summer camps, birthday parties, in-school workshops, and more In addition to learning about engineering and architecture principles, Bricks Kidz participants develop social skills including teamwork and communication, enhance their own self-esteem, and improve motor skills The classes employ multiple learning modalities—visual, kinesthetic, interpersonal, and auditory—and teach kids valuable classroom skills such as organization and following directions And it’s not only the kids who love Bricks Kidz Parents and franchisees also enjoy working with the well-loved building products “Our choice to use LEGO Bricks as the building tool is extremely popular with multi-generational entrepreneurs,” says Michelle Cote, founder The fact that Bricks Kidz is a mobile business opportunity with low overhead and superior flexibility is a big attraction as well “Our franchisees purchase territories and work within those territories at various elementary schools and community centers,” Cote explains “The ability for customers to find classes and camps in more than 700 locations continues to draw more families.” Sew Fun Studios is another Creative Learning Corporation concept that exemplifies thinking outside the box The company’s franchisees teach principles of sewing and design through classes, camps, and parties Sew Fun Studios puts on programs after school, during school, and on holidays They can be included as part of birthday and other parties, incorporated into special events, and be extended for as long as a week They are designed to be part of the curriculum for home schoolers as well as Girl Scout, Boy Scout, and Y guides programs As mobile business owners, Sew Fun Studios franchisees can keep their overhead and start-up costs low while retaining the flexibility of working out of a variety of locations By teaching and celebrating sewing and design, franchisees help kids celebrate sewing as a contemporary, relevant, and creative activity The concept is a proven business model with a successful seven-year track record, and franchisees get comprehensive training in how to continue that success in their own businesses, as well as access to a complete creative curriculum The company supplies custom software, a website, and a full marketing plan including marketing materials Among franchise concepts, few are in the same league as SealMaster The Sandusky, Ohio, franchiser offers business opportunities to manufacture pavement sealer and distribute a full line of pavement maintenance products and equipment “The industry is huge, and we’re the only one-stop source for all things pavement maintenance Our large, protected territories some are entire states offer exceptional income potential,” says Rick Simon, director of franchise operations SealMaster franchisees sell to local, state, and federal public works agencies, pavement maintenance contractors, and property managers and owners, among others “Pavement will always require maintenance, and pavement is literally everywhere SealMaster franchise owners can enjoy growth other concepts can’t touch with a single unit,” says Simon For franchises operating five or more years, single-unit gross sales exceeded $5 million in the fiscal year that ended September 30 With 34 franchised territories (two company owned), only about 15 SealMaster territories remain available in new markets Resales will offer several more opportunities “We have several owners looking forward to extremely comfortable retirements who’ll be selling to enjoy the fruits of their labor,” says Simon As these franchise concepts illustrate, despite a century of rapid development, new ideas are still coming to the world of franchising For the would-be franchisee, innovation is a commodity in good supply SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION FRANCHISE TO ADVERTISE CONTACT 800.938.4660 • WWW.DIRECTACTIONMEDIA.COM FRANCHISE SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION TO ADVERTISE CONTACT 800.938.4660 • WWW.DIRECTACTIONMEDIA.COM SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION MARKETPLACE TO ADVERTISE CONTACT 800.938.4660 • WWW.DIRECTACTIONMEDIA.COM MARKETPLACE SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION TO ADVERTISE CONTACT 800.938.4660 • WWW.DIRECTACTIONMEDIA.COM SPECIAL ADVERTISING SECTION MARKETPLACE TO ADVERTISE CONTACT 800.938.4660 • WWW.DIRECTACTIONMEDIA.COM E X I T I N T E RV I E W Daniel Lubetzky The founder and CEO of Kind Snacks sees public failure as just another chance to bulk up his entrepreneurial muscle As told to MARIA ASPAN Photograph by JEFF BROWN What’s the hardest lesson you’ve learned as an entrepreneur? I can be my business’s best friend and its best enemy When I was starting my first company, PeaceWorks, I considered all of my energy net-positive—so I didn’t filter it I ended up distracting my team with hundreds of ideas, which was a recipe for overextension In the consumer packaged-goods business, that may be the most common mistake—people launch a product, it does well, and then they have this urge to launch more and more and more products And some are mediocre, which makes you vulnerable to competitors You were negotiating a big investment in Kind when your wife gave birth to your first child How you balance business and family? This was the most financially important decision of my life; there was so much riding on it—and yet when our son arrived, I just disconnected I had my baby in my arms, and that was everything to me But I also had a great team that helped me, and my partners were very respectful Nobody tried to change terms while I was distracted—and if anyone had, I would not have closed the deal There are investors that try to that, and you have to be really careful about getting in bed with those partners TRY, TRY AGAIN “I was so close to just walking away and going back to becoming an attorney,” says Daniel Lubetzky, who wrote about his entrepreneurial struggles in Do the Kind Thing “I’m so lucky that I gave it that one last shot—and then Kind finally took off.” How did you recover after the FDA banned some Kind bars from using the “healthy” label? You cannot call a serving of nuts healthy because of the fat content, and yet you can call sugary children’s cereal healthy? So we were very introspective and said, “How did we miss this?” We changed those four labels, and now we have a petition for the FDA to update its regulations You don’t want to miss the opportunity that a crisis brings with it Our company has been so blessed with so much growth; suddenly we have a challenge, and we need to embrace that and use that to build our entrepreneurial muscle SCAN THIS PAGE TO WATCH DANIEL LUBETZKY DISCUSS BUILDING A SOCIALLY MINDED BUSINESS (See page 10 for details.) For a video interview with the Kind Snacks founder, go to inc.com/inclive 96 - INC - FEBRUARY 2016 FOUNDERS FORUM You only know one direction for your business – FORWARD So why let your business credit card hold you back SWITCH TO THE SPARK CASH CARD FOR ® UNLIMITED 2% CASH BACK ON EVERY PURCHASE Own a business credit card that meets your high standards Get the details by visiting us at CapitalOne.com/SmallBusiness Credit approval required Offered by Capital One Bank (USA), N.A ©2014 Capital One Take your business around the world with no extra data charges Get unlimited data & text in 140+ countries and destinations at no extra charge Take your business to T-Mobile @Work and get unlimited text & data across the globe at no extra charge No advance planning and no overages Just land, turn on your phone, and go It’s just one of the reasons T-Mobile was named “Best Wireless Provider for Frequent Travelers” by Business Traveler Magazine Talk to an @Work specialist at T-Mobile store today T-Mobile.com/AtWork Limited time offer; subject to change Unlimited text features for direct communications between people Additional charges apply in excluded destinations, see www.T-Mobile.com for included destinations (subject to change at T-Mobile’s discretion) Qualifying postpaid plan and capable device required Taxes additional; usage taxed in some countries Communications with premium-rate numbers not included Coverage not available in some areas; we are not responsible for our partners’ networks Standard speeds approx 128 Kbps No tethering Not for extended international use; you must reside in the U.S and primary usage must occur on our U.S network Device must register on our U.S network before international use Service may be terminated or restricted for excessive roaming See brochures and Terms and Conditions (including arbitration provision) at www.T-Mobile.com for additional information T-Mobile and the magenta color are registered trademarks of Deutsche Telekom AG © 2016 T-Mobile USA, Inc ... permissions @inc. com Reprint requests should be directed to The YGS Group at 800-290-5460, ext 128 Inc is a registered trademark of Mansueto Ventures LLC FEBRUARY 2016 VOL 38 NO - INC - FEBRUARY 2016. .. 212-389-5379 WEB: www .inc. com LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: mail @inc. com PERMISSIONS: permissions @inc. com INC 500 /INC 5000 INFORMATION: feedback5000 @inc. com REPRINTS: 800-290-5460 ext 128 or increprints@theygsgroup.com... Launch the app and scan any page carrying the icon Inc videos and other bonus content will instantly appear on your mobile device 10 - INC - FEBRUARY 2016 I N C C O M / I D E A L A B Laura Weidman